Native American Military Contributions
With a Focus on the Vietnam Era
By Cameron Mahlum

Statistics and Stories on Native Vietnam Era Veterans

From Strong Hearts Wounded Souls by Tom Holm

Highlights

• Based on their percentage of the total United States population, more Native American men and women (first as nurses) served in the military during the 20^th century than any other ethnic category. 17,000 served in World War I, 25,000 served in World War II, and 42,000 served in Southeast Asia from 1960-1973 (comprising 2% of the total U. S. Forces and less than 1% of the general population).
• Holm surveyed 170 Native American Vietnam veterans from 77 different tribes or combinations thereof. Identifying them was difficult as only 40% of those interviewed were so identified when they enlisted, 33% had no idea what racial category Selective Service recruiters assigned them to, 14% were listed as other, 2% as "Mongolian," 1% as "Negro," 4% as "Latin" or "Spanish, and " 48% as "Caucasian." Yet all were enrolled members of Native American tribes/bands in the United States or Canada. (Members of Canadian bands can be U. S. citizens.)
• 80% of Native American Vietnam veterans volunteered and most had family traditions of serving in the military.
• Most entered infantry units in the Army or Marine Corps and faced high casualty rates. 31% were wounded.
• Native Americans encountered stereotyping and racism. "The deeply ingrained white stereotypes of Indians incredibly gave Native Americans a degree of status within the military, but it also endangered their lives." (p.137) "One man became a ‘tunnel rat’ because his commanding officer thought that Indians had been born with remarkably keen insight." (p. 150) "A Navajo man concurred about the false labeling. He said he “walked point” [night-time duty, guarding the camp] all the time because he was stereotyped by the cowboy and Indian movies. Nicknamed "Chief" right away. Non-Indians claimed Indians could see through trees and hear the unhearable. Bullshit, they even believed Indians could walk on water." (p.152)
• The first National Vietnam Veteran’s Powwow was held at Heart of Oklahoma Expo Center, Shawnee, Oklahoma, on December 11, 1982. Previously, two counselors, Frank Montour and Harold Barse, sponsored a homecoming powwow for Vietnam Veterans at the Wichita tribal complex in Anadarko, Oklahoma. After starting a readjustment counseling service in 1981, they were concerned that so few Native American Veterans had come in for help and they believed that "shared experience would help."

Statistics

Reasons for serving by percentages and levels of importance (very, somewhat, not too, not at all):

• Family tradition  51.2  24.1  11.8  12.9
• Duty to country  44.1  31.2  13.5  11.2
• Tribal tradition  43.5  31.8  12.9  11.8
• Respect from Indians  35.3  27.1  17.6  20.0
• Financial  20.6  29.4  27.6  22.4
• Respect from non-Indians  15.3  23.5  25.3  35.9

Types of units served in while in Vietnam by percentages:

• Infantry 41.8
• Airborne 08.2
• Artillery 08.2
• Aviation (fixed wing) 05.0
• Aviation (helicopter) 07.7
• Tanks 05.1
• Communications 04.0
• Engineer 03.0
• Other* 11.0
• None claimed 17.1

*Includes Special Forces, classified, Rangers, Seabees, Intelligence, and Logistics

Level of combat experience by percentages:

• Heavy 36.5
• Moderate 27.6
• Light 18.8

Problems associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome by percentages and levels of severity (severe to mild):

• Anger-rage 84.6  21.4  71.1
• Drugs 83.8  33.3  31.7
• Flashbacks 78.5  25.9  63.5
• Depression 70.5  25.0  80.0
• Sleep Intrusions 65.7  26.9  76.4
• Alcohol 41.0  40.5  81.1

Stories and Quotations

Why Fight?

• “Not talk of serving their country-more associated with being a warrior in the tribal sense, with all the responsibilities, relationships & rituals that go along with that status.” (p. 21)

• “To them (Native American Vietnam Vets), military service was part of an honorable family and/or tribal tradition. They wanted to be warriors—to protect their land and their people. And, in the trial tradition of reciprocity, they wanted to gain respect from other Native Americans.” (p. 118)

Doubts

• "We went into their country and killed them and took land that wasn’t ours. Just like what the whites did to us. I helped load up village after village and pack it off to the settlement area. Just like when they moved us to the rez [reservation]. We shouldn’t have done that. Browns against browns. That screwed me up, you know.” (p.148)

• “ I was told I was destined to be a warrior as my father and grandfather were before me. Then when I was eighteen I enlisted in the Army and I went to Vietnam. I did not get drafted, I went voluntarily. Then I was in the war and I killed and I got very good at killing. One day this VC prisoner we had pointed to my skin and hair and eyes, and said ‘Same, same" meaning he and I were alike. I hated him for saying this but one day, out on patrol I realized he was right, that I had been a red man killing yellow men for the white man. I put my gun down and couldn’t kill anymore. There was no honor in what I had done. I had shamed myself and the gifts of courage and strength that had been given me.” (p.149)

Heroism

• Billy Walkabout, a Cherokee from Oklahoma, received a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest U.S. decoration for gallantry in combat, for his actions during one such incident in November 1968. “ [After] a long range reconnaissance patrol southwest of Hue… [Sergeant Walkabout’s team] radioed for immediate helicopter extraction. When the extraction helicopters arrived and the lead man begin moving toward the pick-up zone, he was seriously wounded by hostile automatic weapons fire. Sergeant Walkabout quickly rose to his feet and delivered steady suppressive fire on the attackers while other team members pulled the wounded man back to their ranks. Sergeant Walkabout then administrated first aid to the soldier in preparation for medical evacuation. As the man was being loaded onto the evacuation helicopter, enemy elements again attacked the team. Maneuvering under heavy fire, Sergeant positioned himself where the enemy were concentrating their assault and placed continuous rifle fire on the adversary. A command detonated mine ripped through friendly team, instantly killing three men and wounding all the others." Although stunned and wounded by the blast, Sergeant Walkabout rushed from man to man administering first aid, bandaging one soldier’s severe chest wound reviving another soldier by heart massage. He then coordinated gunship and tactical air strikes on the enemy’s positions. When evacuation helicopters arrived again, he worked single-handedly under fire to board his disabled comrades. Only when the casualties had been evacuated and friendly reinforcements had arrived, did he allow himself to be extracted.” (p. 153)

Racism and Stereotypes

• “A Menominee from Wisconsin related that his platoon commander thought that since Indians ‘grew up in the woods’ they should know how to track and generally ‘feel’ when something in the immediate area was disturbed or out of place. Apparently, his platoon commander thought that Native Americans were endowed either by heredity or circumstances of birth with the ability to read their environments. The fact that this particular individual spent a good deal of his youth in an urban environment made not one bit of difference in the opinion of the platoon leader.” (p. 151)
• “The ability to track and know an environment well enough to say that something in it is out of place cannot, of course, be passed along on a strand of DNA. One can only speculate that Native Americans walked point because Indian lives were expendable or because these platoon commanders really believed that putting an Indian, simply because he was an Indian, on point was a tactically sound maneuver. The idea would be laughable had it not been so dangerous for the men who had to do it.” (p.152)

Spiritual Warfare

• The following is told by a Comanche elder by the name of Post Oak Jim regarding a coup story that he witnessed upon riding into a Ute village. “After dark, he drew his blanket over his head and sauntered into the Ute encampment. From within one of the lodges he heard the songs of a hand game in progress. Protected by his disguise, he walked right through the door to join the spectators. Nobody pain attention to him. Casually and slowly moving about he touched one after another all the Utes in the lodge. When he had touched them all, he strolled out and rejoined his friend. He counted coup on twenty enemies at once. It was a great deed.” (p. 48)
• “After a war party was formed most tribes prepared for battles with specialized rituals. Warriors took sweat baths, discontinued sexual relations with their wives, prayed, gathered to be blessed by war priests, and fasted. Some tribes held large preparatory dances. Other tribes left preparation to the individual warrior, who gathered not only his arms but called upon his own helping spirits to protect him in combat.” (p.58)